Trethevy

Trethevy is a hamlet in North Cornwall in the parish of Tintagel. The settlement is 2 miles from Tintagel village and 2 miles from the fishing port of Boscastle. Trethevy has a number of historic buildings and is an early Christian site. The hamlet is divided by the B3263 main road. The principal settlement is to the South of the main road. To the North is the Rocky Valley.

History

Roman occupation of Trethevy is suggested by an inscribed granite pillar, once used as a gatepost and now in the garden of a private residence, St. Piran's. The inscription on the stone reads C DOMI N GALLO ET VOLUS – ‘For the Emperor Caesars our lords Gallus and Volusian.’ Trebonianus Gallus and Antoninianus Volusianus reigned from 251-253 AD. The pillar lends weight to the importance of the nearby trading post of Tintagel Island where merchants from as far away as the Mediterranean came to trade with the Cornish for their tin. St Piran’s is believed to be the site of an early monastic settlement dating from the sixth century AD. A stained glass window remains in a medieval outbuilding and there is a walled garden.

Christian Heritage

In the heart of Trethevy, surrounded by farm buildings and converted barns is Saint Piran’s Chapel, dating from at least the mid fifteenth century and a holy well also dedicated to Saint Piran. The well is built over with a mid twentieth century slate beehive and is topped with an iron cross.

The presence of a monastery might be due to the existence of what some believe to be the hermitage of Saint Nectan beside a waterfall, Saint Nectan’s Kieve, in Saint Nectan’s Glen. Nectan is supposed to have lived above the falls having sailed from Wales on a millstone and was buried nearby. However, no documentation survives to verify this. The waterfall is a popular tourist destination and is viewed by some to be a sacred site - at its base are many ribbons, photos, inscriptions, prayers and other offerings.

Other buildings of historical interest

Further upstream from Saint Nectan's Glen are the remains of a longhouse, Tregenver, possibly as old as fourteenth century. The house was inhabited by farm labourers until the late nineteenth century.

Trethevy Manor was built in the twelfth century and was the home of the Wade family who were Trethevy’s principal residents until the twentieth century. The manor is a private house.

At one time, Trethevy boasted four water mills. Trewethet mill, upstream of Saint Nectan’s Kieve is ruined, Halgabron Mill in the valley below the waterfall is a private residence, Trevillet Mill is also a residence and was made famous by a painting by Thomas Creswick in 1851. Further downstream and the last mill before the ocean is the ruined Trethevy Mill. All appear to have been corn mills but before it closed, Trethevy Mill made ‘yarn, blankets and worsted for hose’ [The Parish of Tintagel. Some Historical Notes by A C Canner] .

Famous Connections

Charles Dickens and William Thackeray visited Saint Nectan's Glen in 1842 along with Daniel Maclise who made his preliminary sketches for ‘Nymph at the Waterfall’ here.

Clive Arden, author, lived in Trethevy in the 1930s.John T Williams, author of Pooh and the Psychologists, the painter Nicholas St John Rosse and the comics artist John Burns live in Trethevy.

References